John Paul Jones
Oct. 28, 1999
by Jim DeRogatis
from the New Times Los Angeles

Much more interesting than the countless aging rockers who are forever milking crippled cash cows are the ones who walked away, resisiting the lure of sweet nostalgia and the mighty dollar. It's a short list, and none of the names are more interesting than John Paul Jones.

The 53-year-old bassist, keyboardist, and arranger (long before "No Quarter", he cut his teeth on the likes of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and the Rolling Stones' "THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST") has kept busy in the 90s with a handful of classy, intriguing, and way cool projects: scoring the strings for REM's "AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE"; producing the Butthole Surfers' "INDEPENDENT WORM SALOON"; touring and recording with Diamanda Galas, circas "THE SPORTING LIFE". Now, some two decades after the demise of Led Zeppelin, he has finally gotten around to releasing his debut solo album.

Released on Robert Fripp's new independent lable, Discipline Global Mobile, "ZOOMA" is a collection of nine solid instrumentals that like the band that put him in Merry Olde's highest tax bracket, alternate heavy and light, pairing thunderous rhythms (Bonzo was only half of that famous groove) with playful and deftly written string parts. Stompers like "Grind" and the title track rock a helluva lot harder than anything his former mates have done in the last few years -- Steve Albini or no -- while an ambient/world beat/electronic excursion like "Snake Eyes" approaches the mind-blowing impact of the first time you heard "Kashmir" on headphones.

Mr. Jones gets extra points for having the cojones to tour as a stripped-down trio (Terl Bryant on drums and Nick Beggs on Champan Stick). Playing with such a small group at relatively intimate clubs, there's nowhere to hide - and certainly nowhere to park the Lear jet.

"If you play the old music and just try to redo what you did before, then it can't have that visceral kick, because you're trying to recreate a performance of something you did as a young man," Jones says. "This is new music. It's fresh and it has its own kick in its own way. It's not the same Zeppeling thing; it's built a different way. I've learned a lot from the Zeppelin days and pretty much everything I've produced and arranged, so I've got all that experience. I know what will work for me and how to succeed in doing what I want to do. If I tried to recreate Zeppelin, it would just sound like somebody trying to recreate Zeppelin. And I don't want to be a part of my own tribute band."